One Last Song
by The Madlib Hatter
Summary: Lillian was convinced she would die alone with 100 dogs, since she never really liked cats. Mikhail wanted nothing more than consistency in his ever-changing life. Will Lillian finally be able to relinquish the key to her locked heart, or will Mikhail never get the chance to play the ultimate duet? Rated T for safety reasons.
1. Chapter 1

A girl rode bareback up the mountain on a white pony, a small, old cart hitched behind. Brown hair flew in the wind behind her as the pony raced ahead, and the girl's violet eyes flashed as she ascended towards the peak. It was only just too late as her mount balked beneath her, throwing her off and shattering her cart, along with the meager belongings she had packed within it. She was only able to register that she now didn't even have a seed to her name before falling victim to unconsciousness.

* * *

It had been several seasons since Lillian's accident on the mountain, and the whole ordeal had almost completely faded from her memory. Morgan, her pony, still wasn't fond of climbing up to the mountain's summit, but frequent use of horse treats had started to remedy that particular dilemma.

Since she had moved to Bluebell, Lillian had quickly befriended the residents; however, despite the almost painfully obvious hints that both Cam and Ash dropped, she had no interest in either young man.

After meeting Kana and Hiro at the Cooking Festivals she regularly attended, and Dirk on his daily delivery route, she had concluded that they didn't hold much hope either.

As much as she loved Georgia and Laney, they were not much help when they pointed out how "laughably single" she was, and she might as well start buying cats now, as she would need a lot more as she became older. Lillian restrained herself from pointing out that both of her friends were also single though she did mutter something under her breath, with her shoulders slumped and back turned away, about not even liking cats anyway.

* * *

A tall, white-blond man wearing a long, brown coat and black, square-rimmed glasses hiked through the familiar mountain path. He appeared to be in his mid- to late-twenties, and all he carried with him was a violin case and a small, battered bag containing some spare clothes and a few foreign oddities. He strolled along at a leisurely pace, admiring the sights and sounds of the mountain as he went- especially the sounds. He hummed along as he walked, trilling over a complex phrase of his own composition.

Yes, this would be a good Music Festival.

* * *

Lillian received a wake-up call from Georgia early on the first day of Fall, a small, orange feline held out in front of her. Both cat and girl were thrown bodily out of the room by the very unimpressed farmer, who groaned as she looked at her clock. It was a few minutes before six o'clock in the morning, which meant it was far too late to return to the comfort of her beckoning bed. Sighing, she grabbed her skirt from the heap of crumpled clothes on the floor she had been meaning to wash and tied back her bead head with an orange kerchief. She had cows to milk.


	2. Chapter 2

The tall, white-blond haired young man paused for a moment in front of Bluebell's Town Hall, knowing he had arrived a day earlier than planned. He turned around to face the rest of the village, taking in the picturesque scene before him, In the crisp Fall morning, early enough that he was the only one awake but late enough that the sun was already out and shining in full force, the village looked serene, and the silence was only broken by the soft lowing of cattle.

The young man smiled, and the village gave hime the first few notes of a song yet to be written in return. It was definitely good to be back.

* * *

Lillian groaned as her alarm clock sliced through her dreams like a guillotine, buzzing its own special form of six o'clock torture from the other side of the room, forcing her to leave the luxuries of her mattress and sheets in order to retrieve it and shut the damn thing off, making the taunting "snooze" button ever the less likely to be used. Sighing, the violet-eyed girl clambered out from her hiding spot under the warm sheets, half-heartedly petting her dogs, Marvel and Vivian, as she shut off the Devil's wake-up call and put food into the pet trough for the canines. Out of her whole day, the morning was definitely the most tedious and trying part. She wistfully thought of the mountain that lay just out of town, where adventure was always waiting with open arms.

"Not yet," she muttered, and exited her house without bothering with breakfast, knowing that eggs lay waiting in the chicken coop and the cows that needed to be milked. The sheep were probably over-grown with wool as well by now and needed to be shorn. Oh, how she despised the mornings and all the chores it brought.

* * *

As he waited for Rutger to open the currently locked doors to the Town Hall, the young man decided to wander around the village. He checked his watch: only a quarter after five in the morning. Nobody would be wake at this hour; even he was feeling fatigued from the long journey to the village from the last place he had visited. He would check into the Town Hall, rest the whole day, then begin preparing for the upcoming Music Festival scheduled for the tenth day of the season. His birthday, the twelfth day of Fall, would most likely be forgotten after the excitement of the Festival, with maybe a happy birthday from the mayor and boiled tofu from his wife. Some had asked him if he was bothered by the fact that his birthday was so soon after the festival, but it was actually quite the opposite; he was downright flattered by it. Music was his rock, his only solace after losing his parents when he was just a child. His teacher took the responsibility of raising him after that, and he became his surrogate father of sorts, and loved him very much. When it was his teacher's time to leave, music had transformed from a friend and comforter to the worst of enemies and a betrayer to his very heart. It took him far too long to even look at his violin again, the very violin his teacher had taken care of with so much pride and affection, like a second son, only second to the young man. Re-discovering music had been the best thing he had done in a long time, and he didn't plan on needing to do it ever again. Music was too special to him to be forgotten for so long that he would need to see and hear its beauty for the first time all over again. That was why he was so honored to have his birthday so close to the Music Festival; it was an inseparable part of him.

Moving his mind away from the tangent, he realized that on his stroll through the small village he had reached the entrance to the old tunnel that used to link Bluebell to the neighboring village of Konohana. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his long, brown coat and peered into the gloom, just able to make out the edges of the rock and rubble a few feet inside that was Goddess knows how thick, preventing easy access to the neighboring town due to some long-forgotten feud he had no part in, but was still somehow caught up in the thick of. While he stayed at the Town Hall, he was subjected to listening to Mayor Rutger every day complaining about how the residents of Konohana thought that they were _so_ much better than the citizens of Bluebell, when Bluebell was quite _obviously_ the better town. The young man just refrained from commenting whenever the subject arose in conversation (which was frequently, making the young man to appear quiet in demeanor). He personally thought that the mayors of oth towns only hated each other out of a feeling of tradition and necessity, and their own pride was the only thing that prevented either of them from making the first step to make reparations to their relationship. To the young man, it all seemed to be childish and unnecessary. Turning back to the Town Hall, noticing how it was somehow almost 6:30 already, he pushed open the now-unlocked dorrs and stepped inside, where the mayor's wife, Rose, greeted him with the warmest of smiles.

"You're early this year, dear. Come with me, your room's exactly as you left it. We're so glad to have you back after your early leave last year, Mikhail."

The young man smiled in return and nodded his head, too tired for words of thanks. He only had time to slip off his coat and shoes and place his things on the floor before falling to sleep straightaway on the soft, warm bed.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**Hey guys, I'm _so_ sorry for being this late with chapter three. The first few weeks of school have been a little bit crazy lately. Rest assured that chapter four will be out at a reasonable time, unlike this one. Thankfully, it's much longer a chapter than the last two, but I planned to publish this several weeks ago. Again, sorry guys! Also, thank you to **lurker **who left me a nice little review. Keep on reading and reviewing guys!

* * *

Mikhail woke up as quickly as he had fallen asleep. Looking up groggily, he could see a blur of bright green and yellow above him. Fumbling for his glasses, he put them on to reveal Rutger, who had shaken him awake.

"Wha time izzit?" Mikhail slurred, still trying to shake off the dreamy mist clogging his brain.

"It's almost five-thirty in the morning. You've been sleeping for nearly twenty-three hours straight, Mikhail. I trust you're well-rested enough to meet someone who moved away during the time of your absence?" Rutger stood up from his slouched position over Mikhail's bed and straightened his bowler hat as the younger man attempted to sit up and rub the sleep out of his eyes.

_Just lovely,_ Mikhail thought. _As if I needed another name to forget. Doesn't poor Rutger know by now that I rarely, if ever, speak to the villagers here? I've been leaving earlier and earlier after the Music Festival each year because besides the mountain peak, there isn't much here for me worth staying for._ Despite his inner grumblings, Mikhail sighed and nodded, as he didn't want to disappoint the mayor.

"Just let me get dressed and I'll be right there."

* * *

Lillian woke up with aching bones. She had gotten the dumb idea to fucking _walk up the mountain_ all the way to Konohana the day before, as she wanted to plant some soybeans in the small crop space she had on her Bluebell farm. Gombe was nice enough, though she did notice he had charged her slightly more than he had to Hiro for the same type and amount of seeds and fertilizer. She chalked it up to the fact she lived in the rival town and ignored Hiro as she purchased her goods without complaint. The towns' rivalry was a unanimously delicate topic, and she was just glad Gombe had let her buy the seeds at all. As she was leaving town for the return hike home, she snuck a quick peek at the empty farm in Konohana, soaking in the large field with rich soil perfect for crops and the snug little house. She wasn't, however, very envious of the tiny barn in the far corner of the field, almost an afterthought. It was much smaller than even Ash's, and the grazing area would never hold all of her small horde of cows, sheep, and chickens. But still, the farm looked just as homey as her own Bluebell farm, and either one of them would have been a good place to start off on her own.

Moving out of her parent's home in order to escape an engagement she knew would lead to an unhappy and difficult marriage later in life was a tough decision on her part, and she knew they were most likely embarrassed and ashamed of what she had done. But in the end, the mountain villages seemed like the perfect place to start anew. Laney and Georgia had no clue why she had actually moved into the area, most likely assuming she just wanted to start out in the farming life. Lillian preferred it that way, although the pressures to get married, settle down, and start a family might have been avoided had she told the truth. Nobody knew that the reason she had been riding so fast that day with all of her meager possessions on that little cart, pushing her poor pony faster than she could go so that she stumbled and fell was because she had been running away, as far and as fast as she could from the man who would only cause her undue pain and heartbreak. The man had practically forced that damn feather into her hands, right in front of both their families so that she had little choice but to accept. Running was the only choice she had at that point, and she was glad that it was at least Bluebell that she had run to.

Stretching out her sore limbs from the previous day's mountain trek, Lillian (quite literally) rolled out of bed and pulled on some clean work clothes. Ash sometimes mentioned that the particular outfit she was wearing that day looked good on her, but really the clothes were old and soft and easy to move and work in. She had quickly learned to change her clothes before leaving the farm.

Tossing her pajamas onto a slightly frightening pile of laundry hidden where guest couldn't find it unless they looked, Lillian began to make herself breakfast, pulling some eggs out of her cold storage just as she heard the knock on her door. Putting the eggs back away, she straightened herself, smoothed over her clothes, and ran her fingers though her hair in a mere matter of seconds before calling out to her mystery visitor, "The door's unlocked! Come on in!"

Mayor Rutger stepped through the doorway, a tall, white-blond young man maybe a few years older than her trailing in behind him. Rutger introduced him as Mikhail, describing him as a "virtuoso violinist" and explaining that he would be playing at the Music Festival coming up in a few day's time.

"Hi there, Mikhail," Lillian said, trying to sound upbeat despite her being sore and tired, fearing that the smile she offered him seemed more like a grimace. When he smiled in return, she continued. "My name is Lillian. It's so great to meet you!"

"It's nice to meet you as well, Lillian. I do hope you'll come to the Music Festival and hear me play." Mikhail's voice itself, though obviously as tired as Lillian's, had its own sort of music to it that sped up Lillian's heart rate slightly and made her forget that Rutger was still in the room, watching the pair with a bemused look on his face. Something in Mikhail's eyes flickered, a long-forgotten twinkle that hadn't been used in a long while. After a short moment of silence, the air in the room so tense and thick you could cut it with a knife, Rutger cleared his throat and the spell broke. Reminding Lillian again of the date and time of the Music Festival, the pair left, leaving Lillian on her own.

The cattle were still in the barn, unmilked, when noon came around and Lillian finally snapped out of her reverie.

* * *

Mikhail sat down at the mountain summit, his violin abandoned beside him. His mind, it seemed, was focusing on the music of this Lillian girl's voice rather than his beloved instrument. It would be impossible to play the violin, he knew, if his mind was somewhere other than the music. So there he sat, contemplating the voice that was smooth as oil and sweet as honey, with whispers of songbirds and piano keys lurking in the undertones of her lilting words, native to some place far from the mountain on which he currently sat on. Her voice was nearly hypnotizing, intoxicating to his very soul and ears.

Mikhail found himself wondering, to his slight embarrassment and feeling colour rise to his cheeks as the though appeared, how many others had she charmed with her musical voice, but pushed the thought away. He wasn't in love, he couldn't _be_ in love. He had only just met her, and for all he knew, she had already given some other man her heart. How could he so selfishly expect for her to even bother with him when he never bothered with anybody else and left town as soon as the weather showed signs of getting warm? Frustrated, he shook his head vigorously in an attempt to banish Lillian from his thoughts and picked up his violin from the soft bed of its case. Tightening his bow before placing it on the strings, he began to play a melody he had never heard before as an offering to the Harvest Goddess.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: This chapter is for my friend George, who is British and awesome and writes Fanfics on Dead Island.

* * *

Lillian strolled at a leisurely pace towards the town hall at about noon. It was the day before the Music Festival, and the air was simply humming with electricity as the villagers eagerly anticipated the event. But Lillian was not going to the town hall to see Mikhail, who she knew was probably on the peak of the mountain this very minute, but to see Rose. It was a bit of a tradition for Rose and Marisa to meet up together once a week and have coffee together. Rose called it "reunion coffee" because she would buy coffee beans from Gombe and milk from Jessica and Ash's farm. Rose never told Rutger where the coffee beans came from, because both Rose and Lillian knew exactly how he would react if he knew that they came from the rival town. It was a long-standing joke between just the two women, and Lillian enjoyed her weekly visits.

Giving a cheerful greeting to Rutger as he stood behind his deck, she walked upstairs to the living suite reserved for the mayor and his wife. Rose was already pouring the two cups, one with more milk and less sugar for her and one with more sugar and very little milk for Lillian. Rose knew how to make coffee just the way Lillian liked it, and she looked to the older woman as a grandmotherly figure, caring and always there to listen to Lillian's fears and concerns. Lillian pulled a small covered basket filled to the brim with her famous homemade Sponge Cake from her rucksack and sat down, ready for the much-needed visit with Rose. She blew on the hot drink set in front of her before taking a sip, immediately smiling as a rush of sweet, strong coffee trickled like hot syrup down her throat.

"The coffee is perfect, as per usual, Rose," Lillian said to the older woman who was also contentedly sipping her drink across the table. The woman laughed and grabbed some Sponge Cake from the basket between them, spearing it with a fork before speaking.

"You can thank Mako for that, Lillian, you know that. Just don't tell my husband if you do." Rose gave a sly wink and both women giggled. Neither of them ever really tired of teasing Rutger and his crotchety old ways. Lillian knew Rose didn't care half as much between the rivalry as Rutger did, and she appreciated that. It made Lillian more comfortable, because with any other person in Bluebell _or _Konohana, the topic could come up at any moment. Lillian had a habit of walking on eggshells around the others just to avoid getting into a heated debate.

Rose looked thoughtful for a moment as she sipped her coffee before she spoke up again. "Lillian, the Music Festival is tomorrow."

"Yes?"

"You have met Mikhail, correct?"

"Yes." Lillian's palms began to sweat, and she took another sip of coffee to distract herself from her rapidly growing nervousness at what she knew Rose would suggest.

"He's been living in the Town Hall, in one of the rooms we rent out from time to time. The poor dear doesn't have many friends, too shy I'll bet. Anyways, his birthday is a few days after the Music Festival but he never gets much else other than what I remember to get him. Do you have any Soybeans growing in your field?"

Lillian was startled. "I bought some seeds the other day, but they won't be ready for about a month or so, I should think. Why do I need Soybeans?"

Rose just shook her head. "I figured as much. Good thing I have extra." With a smile rose pulled a covered basket from under the table that Lillian hadn't noticed before. Rose placed it between the two of them and gestured for Lillian to remove the covering. Inside was some Boiled Tofu.

"It's his favourite. Just... make friends with him. He's a sweet young man and I'd like him to stay during the Summer one of these days."

Lillian stared at the basket's contents, her mouth suddenly dry. Despite the hot coffee gripped tightly in her hands, her fingers were beginning to grow cold and the chilled sensation was slowly snaking its way up her arms. She thought for a moment about when the two had met, about his white hair and kind smile and oh Goddess his _voice. _Lillian found herself nodding and reaching for the basket. Rose smiled.

Lillian could only groan internally as she realised just what she had done.


End file.
